LETTER XI.

I HAD thought of proceeding to Machynllaeth* across Plynlimmon; but found, on inquiry, no encouragement to make the attempt. The road is barren and dreary, the character of the mountain heavy and sullen, the ascent, without a guide (not always procurable), dangerous from its many springs, and the height far exceeded by Snowdon and Cader Idris. I therefore took the turnpikeroad to Aberystwith, about eleven miles: but there

* The place near the river Cynllaeth, which was the ancient name of the Dovey. Bingley, vol. ii. p. 49. It is pronounced Mahunkleth.

+ Plynlimmon, so named from Penlummon, the summit of the beacon, is the source of three noted rivers, the Rhydoll, Wye, and Severn. The Rhydoll flows south-west into the sea at Aberystwith: the Wye south-east, and after watering Radnor, Brecon, and Monmouth, falls into the Severn below Chepstow the Severn north-east to Shrewsbury, then south, waters Salop, Worcester, and Gloucester, emptying itself into the sea below Bristol. Nicholson, p. 331.

is a more interesting one, I believe, that skirts the banks of the Rhydoll,* and this would give you an opportunity of seeing the water-mill I mentioned, with Llanbadarn Vawr, which may also afford a sketch. There is said to be a richly decorated old cross in the church-yard.†

Aberystwith looks best at a distance, and may be well sketched from the Machynllaeth road; but some liberties, I doubt, must be taken. A town faithfully represented is seldom picturesque; something is wrong in the general outline: or if in shade, the chimneys displease; they are too many or too few, too short or too long; and if again in light, the artist must be allowed to put in just so doors and windows as it will bear.

many

When near, the houses of grey stone with whitened roofs give Aberystwith a gloomy appearance. The ruins of the castle are too ruinous for the pencil; now only one lofty tower. The chain of mountains, on the north side of the bay, forms a

* Malkin, p. 370.

+ Nicholson, p. 380.

most noble and extensive distance. Aberystwith is much frequented in the bathing season, and there is then a public boarding table at the Talbot, the principal inn.

From hence to Machynllaeth, by Trevy Ddol,* where I procured a decent bed, the distance may be about eighteen or twenty miles: a road not often taken, I believe, nor at all to be recommended. There is one fine view from the hill, about three miles above the town, wide and diversified, and well seen under an early morning sun. Machynllaeth differs little from other Welch towns, and contains no object of note. If you stop there, go to the Unicorn Inn.

Quitting Machynllaeth, you cross the Dovey, and enter Merionethshire, with little reason to regret not seeing more of Montgomeryshire; for it is the least picturesque of the northern counties. The neighbourhood of Llanidloes affords some sub

The town of the dale. Dd, or as it is sometimes written, dh, is an aspirated d, and the sound nearly of th in the word this. Bingley, vol. ii. p. 297.

jects for the pencil; and one of the Breidden mountains, the highest conical, called Moel y Golfa, is often studied: but the mountains are in general not lofty, and sometimes green to their tops; while the lower grounds abound with cultivation and manufactures. Flannel is chiefly the produce of Montgomeryshire; hence the loom is often heard, tenter-grounds and fulling-mills make their appearance, and the houses and villages have an air of English comfort.*

The next fourteen miles to Dolgelle † is a walk of wonderful sublimity. Wyndham compares it even to Switzerland, and says, "It forms a miniature picture of the romantic road between Aigues Belles and Mount Cenis." If possible, reserve this walk, as far at least as Tal y Llyn, for an evening; the best time to observe the full effect of light and shade on such stupendous rock, and

* Aikin's Tour, p. 38.

+ The holme of the groves; pronounced nearly Dolgethle. Ll is an asperated 7, having much the sound of thl. Bingley, vol. ii. p. 297.

Welch Tour Abr. p. 113.

wood, and mountain scenery. The profound silence too of these sequestered spots, which always strikes a solitary stranger, is then most striking. Four miles from Machynllaeth is a singular fall on the Dyfflos, to the left of the road, near the mill; a good study with the oaks above, and distant hill: your ear will guide you to it, if you know the deep, subterranean sound of waterfalls, so entirely unlike any other. About three miles further, I have a station for you; a simple, but grand specimen of mountain solitude, rendered even more solitary by the appearance of one cottage, a little way out of the road to the left, and which marks the spot. You look north-west, toward Dolgelle, part of Cader Idris filling up the distance.

STATION.

In the road. Bring the peak of the mountain next to Cader Idris exactly over the gable end of the cottage.

Hereabouts you will pass on the left a magnificent hanging wood, towering aloft, far almost as